Female veterans in the Women Veterans Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship program will be able to pursue more entrepreneurial ideas, thanks to a new grant.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced that Syracuse University received a $1.3 million federal grant on Feb. 24, according to an SU News release published the same day.

The 3-year federal grant is a continuation of the partnership between the U.S. Small Business Administration and SU’s Institute for Veteran and Military Families to sustain the V-WISE program, said Ray Toenniessen, director of new initiatives and external relations for IVMF.

“When women leave the military, they are much more likely to turn their back on their veteran status,” he said.

Toenniessen added that female veterans are less likely to attend veterans’ events or apply for and receive veteran benefits.

Toenniessen said the IVMF launched the V-WISE program in 2011 with the SBA, and the program has taken place in nine different cities. The grant will allow the V-WISE program to continue educating and training female veterans or military spouses in starting or growing their own small business, he said.

“This is really the first program around small business and entrepreneurship that’s been created and launched specifically for the female veteran community, to give them a safe and comfortable environment and to help them build that network of female veteran business owners around the country,” he said.

Many of the women stay in touch with each other after they complete the program, Toenniessen said. With more than 1,000 women who have completed the program, V-WISE plans to create an alumni chapter program to create a more supportive community, he added.

“The V-WISE alumni chapter program will help formalize alumni chapters of graduates all over the country,” Toenniessen said. “We work with them to tie them in with their local communities and local resources, whether those be government resources or private resources as well.”

V-WISE is a three-stage educational program, Toenniessen said. The first stage is a two week basic online course for businesses, then the women are sent to one of the V-WISE locations for a three-day training program, he said.

For the final stage of the program, V-WISE forms connections between the women and small business development centers in the U.S., including partners of the SBA, Toenniessen said.

“We now not only give them the instructional piece, but also the practical resources to help them knock down some of those barriers on their way to launching a business,” he said.

Toenniessen said veterans are twice as likely to launch a successful small business than those who have not actively served in the military.

In December, Gillibrand wrote a letter to the SBA, advocating the administration to award the federal grant to SU, according to the press release.

The grant attests to SU’s and the IVMF’s strong dedication to the veteran community,

Toenniessen said, and he was excited to continue IVMF’s partnership with the SBA.

Said Toenniessen: “From the IVMF, I know we are looking forward to our continuing partnership with the Small Business Administration with running the V-WISE program and to providing the training, education and resources to hundreds, if not thousands more women veterans over the next few years.”

Published on March 3, 2014 at 1:46 am

Contact Anna: almerod@syr.edu